aqa a level Sociology GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT TOPIC COMPANION

Transcription

1 aqa a level Sociology GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT TOPIC COMPANION

2 Page 2 AQA A LEVEL SOCIOLOGY COURSE COMPANION: Global Development This A Level Course Companion has been designed specifically to support teaching and learning, taking a systematic approach closely based on the AQA specification. The global development companion takes each point from the specification and breaks it down into sections. Each section makes a clear link to the specification, provides a checklist of what needs to be known and then explains key content, using both classic and some more contemporary studies and examples. The sections are: Measuring Development Theories of development, underdevelopment and global inequality Globalisation TNCs, NGOs and international agencies Aid and Trade Industrialisation, urbanisation & employment The Environment War & Conflict Health & Education Demographic Change Gender Outline & Explain questions Each section includes regular evaluation of theories, studies or perspectives. This is written in the explicit and developed way that students would need to try to emulate in the exam. Each section concludes with a list of possible exam questions along with expert examiner hints. While potential questions are endless (especially in relation to specific wording and the items) all the types of questions that could be asked are included, providing opportunity to write about all the core content. There is a separate section specifically for the outline and explain 10 mark questions because, for Paper 2 Topics in Sociology, these always involve applying knowledge from one area of the subject to another and therefore the questions do not clearly belong in any one section. It is important to remember that in sociology you are encouraged to apply themes, knowledge and analysis across topic areas, including between different substantive topics. When attempting questions from one section, you should always be aware that you can and should use information from other sections. Two key features of this companion help to facilitate this synoptic approach. These are: "making the link": where a connection between content in this module and that of another is explicitly explored. "links to core themes": where AQA's core themes of socialisation, culture and identity, social differentiation and power and stratification are applied to each area of the specification. The language is designed to be reader-friendly, yet packed with key terminology and the sort of academic style that A Level students need to develop in order to excel in their exams.

3 Page 21 TNCs, NGOs AND INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES Specification: sociological explanations of the role of transnational corporations, nongovernmental organisations and international agencies in local and global strategies for development WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Outline, explain, analyse and evaluate how the following organisations contribute towards development: TNCs NGOs UN World Bank IMF Transnational Corporations (TNCs) Transnational corporations are companies that operate across a number of countries. Their headquarters might be in a Western liberal democracy like the USA, but much of the production takes place in other parts of the world, including developing countries, and they might have operations and subsidiaries in many other countries. One of the key features, according to Froebel is that production has tended to move to the developing world, in order to benefit from cheap labour and fewer regulations. He argues that this has created a new international division of labour, with manufacturing and primary sector jobs primarily taking place in developing countries. Some of these TNCs are worth a huge sum of money indeed they have a higher GDP than many nation states. They have enormous power, but critics suggest they have very little responsibility. Some most notably modernisation theorists and neoliberals argue that TNCs perform an essential role in the process of development. One way in which TNCs assist the process of development is by offering employment opportunities in more lucrative and secure formal sectors of the economy. Many workers in the developing world are employed in the informal sectors such as subsistence agriculture or black markets (trading in illegal goods such as ivory). These sectors can be insecure and dependent upon environmental and seasonal conditions to allow labourers to earn enough to provide for their families. The introduction of TNCs to the developing world allows workers to enter the formal sector with more regular pay, better working conditions and an increased standard of living, thanks to an increase in their earning potential. This in turn contributes to the economy and facilitates economic growth and investment. Another way in which TNCs are said to assist the process of development is thorough promoting the values that modernization theorists say are essential for development. Traditional values such as collectivism, particularism and ascribed status are more commonplace in the developing world. For society to progress, modernisation theorists, such as Parsons, suggest that the developing world needs to embrace western values and become more ambitious. Working for TNCs can help workers to become westernised, promoting ideas of achieved status and individualism (eg trying to get a promotion) and universalism (rules and regulations within the workplace may be the same from country to country, challenging some cultural assumptions). Furthermore, workers in TNCs are paid wages that can then be spend on consumer goods, again encouraging Western values of aspiration. However

4 Page 22 Dependency theorists would argue that the employment opportunities offered to workers in the developing world by TNCs is really the worst kind of exploitation. The companies employ vulnerable workers on starvation wages with practically no workers rights. In doing so they make members of what Sklair calls the transnational capitalist class very rich indeed but they do not bring prosperity or wealth to the developing world. Those who earn significant sums of money will tend to be based in rich countries and certainly spend their money in rich countries, so the imagined boost to local economies is very slight. Indeed, because the TNC might provide unbeatable competition to local companies, the effect may well be to further impoverish and area. TNCs often base themselves in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) that are especially established to have minimal protections for workers: no employee security, no minimum wage, no healthy and safety regulations, etc. While this is sold to the developing countries as a way to encourage investment, dependency theorists argue that it is only the TNCs (and their Western owners and shareholders) who benefit from such arrangements: it exploits the developing world rather than enriches it. Furthermore, dependency theorists would criticise the idea that TNCs improve the value systems in developing countries. They would argue that this is a form of cultural imperialism. They would argue that in trying to change people s values, TNCs are attempting to enforce the norms and values of Western capitalism onto the workers of the developing world. While some would say that this should be encouraged, as some values in developing countries are not desirable (such as attitudes to gender equality in some countries, for example) dependency theorists would point out that the values of sweatshops are not ones that should be celebrated. Indeed, the treatment of women workers in such establishments is often appalling (as shall be discussed in the Gender section later in this companion). Naomi Klein ( 1999) No Logo Naomi Klein s best-selling book No Logo explored the behaviour of TNCs especially McDonalds, Nike, Shell, Microsoft and Gap and investigated the human stories behind the big brands. Parts of the book focused on the economic impact of globalisation on North America (Klein is Canadian) both in terms of the choice on the high street and in the media (Klein argues that the big brands work to limit choice and use their breadth of ownership to protect other branches of the business) and in terms of employment (the replacement of real jobs with McJobs jobs on the minimum wage with little security or prospect for development). However, she also turns her attention to what happens to those jobs that are outsourced from the developed world and finds that they are often done in EPZs in appalling conditions. Indeed the companies can sometimes effectively get rid of the cost of labour altogether by making people do unpaid overtime, for instance. The book paints a picture of TNCs treating people very badly and causing great harm in both the developed and developing worlds. It has become a very popular book among the anti-globalisation and anti-capitalism movements, although some economists and people from the TNCs featured (especially Nike) have been very critical of its conclusions. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) A wide range of organisations come under the broad heading of NGOs. In relation to development, this is particularly charitable organisations like OXFAM, the Red Cross or Medicins Sans Frontier (MSF). A key function of NGOs in developing countries is to provide emergency aid although they often work in

5 Page 23 countries over a long period of time, not just in short-term famine or disaster relief or during conflict. However, it is probably fair to say that the role of NGOs is often to fix immediate damage, rather than the long-term development strategy and planning that is more normally carried out at government and intergovernmental level. NGOs get involved in development work in a number of ways, for example: Providing immediate relief and emergency aid with food programmes and urgent medical care Engaging with the community to help develop health centres, community education, etc. Working with governments and businesses to try and develop robust systems Encouraging the local population to manage development themselves and become more selfsufficient and future-proof. There has been a significant increase in the number of NGOs and the scale of the work they do in recent decades. There are a number of reasons for this, but one is a neo-liberal preference for private and charitable responses as opposed to state responses. As such, governments are increasingly likely to channel international aid through NGOs rather than be a direct provider of aid. There are a few reasons why NGOs can be more effective at providing aid and assisting development than governments, these include: They are more likely to be viewed as independent. Particuarly during conflict situations, foreign governments can be distrusted (sometimes with good reason) and therefore may fail to achieve their aims. They work directly with the people on the ground, rather than passing on resources from government to government, therefore they are more likely to reach people in need, rather than to be held back by kleptocratic governments or spent in ways that just benefit the ruling elite. Because they have often established networks and contacts within countries, they can respond rapidly to need and can be flexible, in a way that governments often cannot be. While a lot of NGOs are Western-based, there has also been an increase in the number of NGOs that have been developed in the developing world themselves, such as the African Women s Development Fund, founded by Joana Foster in However, there are also several criticisms of the role of NGOs in the delivery of aid and the management of development. These include: Allegations of corruption and malpractice. There have been several cases of organisations being accused of making improper use of funds, and also allegations that NGO aid workers have behaved inappropriately, including allegations of sexual misconduct. Recent reports suggest a huge problem of sexual abuse among NGO workers in organisations including OXFAM and Save the Children. NGOs are often reliant on money collected from the public. This is not as predictable and secure as state funding. People often give generously at a time of a major disaster, such as the 1984 Ethiopian famine and the fundraising efforts of Band Aid, but it is harder to maintain consistent funds when the stories have slipped from the news headlines. This has led to criticisms that sometimes NGOs manipulate the public and over-simplify complex situations in order to raise money from the public. It is easier to sell feeding people suffering from a drought, without added complications relating to conflict or politics that might undermine people s sympathy and generosity. There is also a regular controversy over the high salaries of some NGO workers (and perhaps even more so some workers in other international organisations) leading to some to talk about the Lords of Poverty.

6 Page 24 International agencies There are a number of major international agencies that play a role in the process of development. A number of these were established following the Second World War, in part to rebuild Europe after the ravages of war, manage the financing of such projects and to promote economic stability. Most of these organisations boast individual governments These included the so-called Bretton Woods organisations: the IMF and the World Bank. Both these organisations offer loans to countries, including developing countries, that are struggling economically, and particularly that are finding it difficult to pay off national debt. These payments could be used to invest in infrastructure or to pay off high-interest private loans, to avoid the country defaulting on its debt. Alongside these low or no interest loans would be a great deal of advice on how best to manage their economy. In reality, this is much more than advice. These organisations have placed conditions on the loan. From the 1980s, they developed structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) to encourage neoliberal, free-market economics. IMF loans would be conditional on: Privatisation Deregulation Spending cuts Focusing on exports Some of these could certainly be counterproductive. Nationalised industries could be a source of revenue for governments, reducing a governments ability to deal with social problems itself (further compounded by spending cuts). While deregulation attracts TNCs, it leads to low pay and insecure work. Finally, focusing on exports, from a dependency theory perspective, makes a country more dependent on the wealthy countries who might purchase the products they produce. At the same time, such policies are able to encourage foreign investment, which does help promote economic development. One of the criticisms of this approach was the neo-imperialist nature of the IMF or World Bank dictating the economic policies of sovereign governments. As such, since 2000, there has been a move to include governments in the design of the re-branded poverty reduction strategies, but many of the dependency theory criticisms of these strategies remain. Hong (2000) criticised SAPs for causing a lot of problems in LEDCs, such as: Environmental damage (e.g. deforestation in order to make way for agricultural land to produce cash crops for export, and increased carbon emissions from greater industrialisation) Corruption (deregulation has allowed the growth of corrupt practices) More poverty (low pay, long hours, poor conditions, etc. plus often more tax to pay and fewer public services) Conflict (the combination of a lack of services and welfare and high levels of poverty is a powderkeg for political and social unrest). Joseph Stiglitz (2002), himself a World Bank chief economist and Nobel laureate for Economics, has written in very critical terms of the impact of the IMF and other international organisations. He argues that the economic principles and assumptions upon which IMF conditions and SAPs are based are themselves fundamentally flawed. In that sense, his is a direct criticism of neoliberalism. He argues that many of the stipulations put forward by the IMF directly make matters worse in developing economies, such as the privatisation of key assets, the increase of interest rates (to try and control inflation) and various forms of liberalisation of markets. He argues instead that state intervention in the economy is good (quite the opposite of the neoliberal, laissez-faire approach). Furthermore Stiglitz blames the IMF directly for causing the East Asia financial crisis of 1997 (which many feared would spark a global financial meltdown) and the Argentinian economic crisis of , which eventually led to the Argentine government defaulting on its foreign debts. He further put the lack of development in sub-saharan Africa and the economic failings of post-soviet Russia down to these

7 Page 25 neoliberal prescriptions. However, he has received criticism from some neoliberal thinkers who question his data and suggest that the failures he recounts are really down to the IMF not being neoliberal enough! Some other organisations, such as the EU, provide grants rather than loans, to assist with the development. The United Nations acts more like a coordinator of NGOs, with groups like UNICEF coming under the umbrella of the United Nations, again benefiting from being seen as independent and not allied with a particular world power. The World Health Organisation, for instance, has played a significant role in reducing disease and improving health chances globally. Governments also come together in other forums, such the G8 (a grouping of the world s richest countries) who, in 2005, wrote off a great deal of third world debt. Another international organisation of note is the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which sets the rules for international trade. It has also stated that supporting the development of LEDCs is a key part of its role. It too has been criticised, with critics saying that it has failed to support fair trade and that too many of the rules and the trade deals that are struck around the world benefit only the richest countries and cause problems for LEDCs. Links to Core Themes Like many of the sections in this topic, there is a clear link here to the core theme of power. Some of these organisations are very powerful. They also tend to be established in and funded by powerful countries that wish to maintain their power. As such, while often there may be noble objectives to support development in LEDCs, there is a further clear objective to achieve this in as much as it is in the interests of the wealthy and powerful nations, and not in such a way that might threaten those interests. Possible Exam Questions 1. Item K Transnational Corporations (TNCs) operate on a global scale and provide many valuable employment opportunities for those in the developing world. TNCs may also help the process of development by promoting ideas and values of modernization. Applying material from Item K, analyse two ways in which TNCs might impact the process of development (10 marks) 2. Item L Aid takes a number of different forms and can be quiet controversial. Some sociologists suggest that non-governmental organisation (NGOs) are better at delivering aid than state organisations for a number of reasons, such as being more independent and having good relationships with the community. However, there are criticisms of NGOs and their role in developing countries. Applying material from Item L and your own knowledge, evaluate the view that NGOs are better at delivering aid than governments. (20 marks).

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